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· 2ND OF APRIL, THE YEAR 2006

HIKING MT. DIABLO

I’ve been meaning to get out to Mt. Diablo ever since my tarantula escapade last Fall. It’s a very unique place, on the edge of a couple of broad ecological regions. It’s the northern limit of a lot of desert species, the last place before the Central Valley where you can find a bunch coastal species, and generally just has a lot of diversity. There are actualy several plant species that are endemic to the mountain: they grow nowhere else on Earth.

I meant to go on a full day hike, but I slept in, so I was only out for about 4 hours. I went up Mitchell Canyon road and came down Eagle Peak, which was a great little loop. Plenty of flowers, and some beautiful view and sun coming down along the craggy Bald Ridge. None of my pictures really came out, but here are some of the less sucky. I’ll put up IDs when I have some confirmation.

Probably Royal delphinium (Delphinium variegatum), but I still have some doubts about the leaves…

Probably Red delphinium (Delphinium nudicaule), but once again, the leaves trouble me.

American wolf lichen (Letharia columbiana)
This was growing all over the manzanita growing along Bald Ridge. This photo is a bit over exposed, but the color was an amazingly vibrant green. Some branches were so coated as to earn the prefix “Chia-”.

Most likely some species of Erysimum, possibly E. capitatum. The bug is a mystery to me, but possibly Largus sp. (Largidae)?